Sleep, Wellness and Optimal Health for Children and Toddlers with Dr Lindsay Henderson Final

HealthCast Now - The Intersection of Health, Wellness & Circadian Optimization

Dr. Lindsay Henderson is a clinical psychologist and currently the assistant director of Psychological Services at American Well. Before her position as assistant director, Lindsay worked as Staff Psychologist in the Child and Adolescent Division at McLean Hospital and also has experience in Harvard Medical School as Clinical Instructor. Her work revolves around adolescents and helping them cope with distress and emotional difficulty.

Today, Lindsay talks about how today’s kids and young adolescents suffer stress primarily due to lack of sleep brought on by excessive use of smart phones and tablets. She also gives tips to parents regarding how to properly handle their kids’ relationship with technology.

“Our technology progresses much more than parenting can keep up with.” Dr. Lindsay Henderson

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• There is a dysfunction in parenting in today’s society particularly on sleep issues with children.
• Advances and changes in society make it difficult for kids and adolescents to learn how to get to sleep and stay asleep for a good amount of time.
• Integrating technology in children's lives safely and healthily is not as fast as advancements in technology.
• We should not have phones and tablets before bedtime.
• Constant access to technology provides a constant stimulation which results to a child never truly learning to tolerate their own thoughts or emotions by themselves, especially because social media is addictive.
• Kids constantly have tablets or phones that turn their attention away from the task at hand. They never learn how to focus on one thing.
• Families should implement tech-free time in the household.
• Tech-free time in the morning before school is important as it sets the tone of the day in our brains to go forth engaging mindfully with one task at a time.
• Emotional skillset may not develop and cultivate when kids turn their attention towards technology use.
• Sleep is a challenging task emotionally. Sleep is the ultimate separation from reality as we are vulnerable when we close our eyes for hours at a time. When people are unable to develop skills to tolerate separation it can be difficult to get yourself ready to sleep.
• Poor quantity of sleep correlates (not causes) trying drugs and alcohol at an earlier age.

Key Takeaways:

• Sleep is something that needs to be worked on constantly. It's a habit that needs to be practiced and developed.

Mentioned in this episode:

• American Well
• Limiting Kids Screen Time article on the Amwell blog

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